Causative and Passive Verbs

Posted by Tae Kim

We will now learn the last two major types of verb conjugations: causative and passive forms. These two verb conjugations are traditionally covered together because of the notorious causative-passive combination. We will now go over what all these things are and how they are used.

Causative Verbs

Vocabulary

あげる (ru-verb) - to give; to raise

くれる (ru-verb) - to give

全部 【ぜん・ぶ】 - everything

食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) - to eat

着る 【き・る】 (ru-verb) - to wear

信じる 【しん・じる】 (ru-verb) - to believe

寝る 【ね・る】 (ru-verb) - to sleep

起きる 【お・きる】 (ru-verb) - to wake; to occur

出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) - to come out

掛ける 【か・ける】 (ru-verb) - to hang

捨てる 【す・てる】 (ru-verb) - to throw away

調べる 【しら・べる】 (ru-verb) - to investigate

話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) - to speak

聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) - to ask; to listen

泳ぐ 【およ・ぐ】 (u-verb) - to swim

遊ぶ 【あそ・ぶ】 (u-verb) - to play

待つ 【ま・つ】 (u-verb) - to wait

飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) - to drink

直る 【なお・る】 (u-verb) - to be fixed

死ぬ 【し・ぬ】 (u-verb) - to die

買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) - to buy

する (exception) - to do

来る 【く・る】 (exception) - to come

先生 【せん・せい】 - teacher

学生 【がく・せい】 - student

宿題 【しゅく・だい】 - homework

たくさん - a lot (amount)

質問 【しつ・もん】 - question

今日 【きょう】 - today

仕事 【し・ごと】 - job

休む 【やす・む】 (u-verb) - to rest

その - abbreviation of 「それの」

部長 【ぶ・ちょう】 - section manager

いい (i-adj) - good

長時間 【ちょう・じ・かん】 - long period of time

働く 【はたら・く】 (u-verb) - to work

トイレ - bathroom; toilet

行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) - to go

Verbs conjugated into the causative form are used to indicate an action that someone makes happen. Like Captain Picard so succinctly puts it, the causative verb means to "make it so". This verb is usually used in the context of making somebody do something. The really confusing thing about the causative verb is that it can also mean to let someone do something. Or maybe this is a different type of verb with the exact same conjugation rules. Whichever the case may be, a verb in the causative form can mean either making or letting someone do something. The only good news is that when the causative form is used with 「あげる」 and 「くれる」, it almost always means to "let someone do". Once you get used to it, surprisingly, it becomes quite clear which meaning is being used when.

全部食べさせた。Made/Let (someone) eat it all.

全部食べさせてくれた。Let (someone) eat it all.

Causative Conjugation Rules
Here are the conjugation rules for the causative form. All causative verbs become ru-verbs.

For ru-verbs: Replace the last 「る」 with 「させる」.

For u-verbs: Change the last character as you would for negative verbs but attach 「せる」 instead of 「ない」.

Exception Verbs:

「する」 becomes 「させる」

「くる」 becomes 「こさせる」.

Sample ru-verbs

Plain

Causative

食べる

食べさせる

着る

着させる

信じる

信じさせる

寝る

寝させる

起きる

起きさせる

出る

出させる

掛ける

掛けさせる

捨てる

捨てさせる

調べる

調べさせる

Sample u-verbs

Plain

Causative

話す

話させる

聞く

聞かせる

泳ぐ

泳がせる

遊ぶ

遊ばせる

待つ

待たせる

飲む

飲ませる

直る

直らせる

死ぬ

死なせる

買う

買わせる

Exception Verbs

Positive

Causative

する

させる

くる

こさせる

Examples

Here are some examples using the causative verb. Context will usually tell you which is being meant, but for our purposes we will assume that when the verb is used with 「あげる」 and 「くれる」（ください） it means "to let someone do" while it means, "to make someone do" when used without it.

先生が学生に宿題をたくさんさせた。
Teacher made students do lots of homework.

先生が質問をたくさん聞かせてくれた。
Teacher let (someone) ask lots of questions.

今日は仕事を休ませてください。
Please let me rest from work today. (Please let me take the day off today.)

その部長は、よく長時間働かせる。
That manager often makes (people) work long hours.

When asking for permission to let someone do something, it is more common to use the 「～てもいい」 grammar.

トイレに行かせてくれますか。
Can you let me go to the bathroom? (Sounds like a prisoner, even in English)

トイレに行ってもいいですか。
Is it ok to go to the bathroom? (No problem here)

A Shorter Alternative

Vocabulary

食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) - to eat

行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) - to go

する (exception) - to do

来る 【く・る】 (exception) - to come

同じ 【おな・じ】 - same

こと - event, matter

何回 【なん・かい】 - how many times

言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) - to say

お腹 【お・なか】 - stomach

空く 【あ・く】 (u-verb) - to become empty

何 【なに／なん】 - what

くれる (ru-verb) - to give

There is a shorter version of the causative conjugation, which I will go over for completeness. However, since this version is mostly used in very rough slang, you are free to skip this section until you've had time to get used to the regular form. Also, textbooks usually don't cover this version of the causative verb.

The key difference in this version is that all verbs become an u-verbs with a 「す」 ending. Therefore, the resulting verb would conjugate just like any other u-verb ending in 「す」 such as 「話す」 or 「指す」. The first part of the conjugation is the same as the original causative form. However, for ru-verbs, instead of attaching 「させる」, you attach 「さす」 and for u-verbs, you attach 「す」 instead of 「せる」. As a result, all the verbs become an u-verb ending in 「す」.

Shortened Causative Form

This form is rarely used so you may just want to stick with the more traditional version of the causative form.

For ru-verbs: Replace the last 「る」 with 「さす」.
Example食べる → 食べさす

For u-verbs: Change the last character as you would for negative verbs but attach 「す」 instead of 「ない」.
Example行く → 行か → 行かす

Exception Verbs:

「する」 becomes 「さす」

「くる」 becomes 「こさす」

Examples

同じことを何回も言わすな！
Don't make me say the same thing again and again!

お腹空いているんだから、なんか食べさしてくれよ。
I'm hungry so let me eat something.

Passive Verbs

Vocabulary

食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) - to eat

着る 【き・る】 (ru-verb) - to wear

信じる 【しん・じる】 (ru-verb) - to believe

寝る 【ね・る】 (ru-verb) - to sleep

起きる 【お・きる】 (ru-verb) - to wake; to occur

出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) - to come out

掛ける 【か・ける】 (ru-verb) - to hang

捨てる 【す・てる】 (ru-verb) - to throw away

調べる 【しら・べる】 (ru-verb) - to investigate

話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) - to speak

聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) - to ask; to listen

泳ぐ 【およ・ぐ】 (u-verb) - to swim

遊ぶ 【あそ・ぶ】 (u-verb) - to play

待つ 【ま・つ】 (u-verb) - to wait

飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) - to drink

直る 【なお・る】 (u-verb) - to be fixed

死ぬ 【し・ぬ】 (u-verb) - to die

買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) - to buy

する (exception) - to do

来る 【く・る】 (exception) - to come

ポリッジ - porridge

誰 【だれ】 - who

皆 【みんな】 - everybody

変 【へん】 (na-adj) - strange

言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) - to say

光 【ひかり】 - light

速い 【はや・い】 (i-adj) - fast

超える 【こ・える】 (ru-verb) - to exceed

不可能 【ふ・か・のう】 - impossible

思う 【おも・う】 (u-verb) - to think

この - this （abbr. of これの）

教科書 【きょう・か・しょ】 - textbook

多い 【おお・い】 (i-adj) - numerous

人 【ひと】 - person

読む 【よ・む】 (u-verb) - to read

外国人 【がい・こく・じん】 - foreigner

質問 【しつ・もん】 - question

答える 【こた・える】 (ru-verb) - to answer

パッケージ - package

あらゆる - all

含む 【ふく・む】 (u-verb) - to include

Passive verbs are verbs that are done to the (passive) subject. Unlike English style of writing which discourages the use of the passive form, passive verbs in Japanese are often used in essays and articles.

Passive Conjugation Rules
All passive verbs become ru-verbs.

For ru-verbs: Replace the last 「る」 with 「られる」

For u-verbs: Change the last character as you would for negative verbs but attach 「れる」 instead of 「ない」.

Exception Verbs:

「する」 becomes 「される」

「くる」 becomes 「こられる」

Sample ru-verbs

Plain

Passive

食べる

食べられる

着る

着られる

信じる

信じられる

寝る

寝られる

起きる

起きられる

出る

出られる

掛ける

掛けられる

捨てる

捨てられる

調べる

調べられる

Sample u-verbs

Plain

Passive

話す

話される

聞く

聞かれる

泳ぐ

泳がれる

遊ぶ

遊ばれる

待つ

待たれる

飲む

飲まれる

直る

直られる

死ぬ

死なれる

買う

買われる

Exception Verbs

Positive

Passive

する

される

くる

こられる

Examples

ポリッジが誰かに食べられた！
The porridge was eaten by somebody!

みんなに変だと言われます。
I am told by everybody that (I'm) strange.

光の速さを超えるのは、不可能だと思われる。
Exceeding the speed of light is thought to be impossible.

この教科書は多くの人に読まれている。
This textbook is being read by a large number of people.

外国人に質問を聞かれたが、答えられなかった。
I was asked a question by a foreigner but I couldn't answer.

このパッケージには、あらゆるものが含まれている。
Everything is included in this package.

Using passive form to show politeness

Vocabulary

どう - how

する (exception) - to do

領収証 【りょう・しゅう・しょう】 - receipt

明日 【あした】 - tomorrow

会議 【かい・ぎ】 - meeting

行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) - to go

While we will go over various types of grammar that express a politeness level above the normal -masu/-desu forms in the next lesson, it is useful to know that using passive form is another more polite way to express an action. In Japanese, a sentence is usually more polite when it is less direct. For example, it is more polite to refer to someone by his or her name and not by the direct pronoun "you". It is also more polite to ask a negative question than a positive one. (For example, 「しますか？」 vs. 「 しませんか？」) In a similar sense, using the passive form makes the sentence less direct because the subject does not directly perform the action. This makes it sound more polite. Here is the same sentence in increasing degrees of politeness.

どうする？ - What will you do? (lit: How do?)

どうしますか？ - Regular polite.

どうされますか？- Passive polite.

どうなさいますか？- Honorific (to be covered next lesson)

どうなさいますでしょうか？- Honorific + a lesser degree of certainty.

Notice how the same sentence grows longer and longer as you get more and more indirect.

Examples

領収証はどうされますか？
What about your receipt? (lit: How will you do receipt?)

明日の会議に行かれるんですか？
Are you going to tomorrow's meeting?

Causative-Passive Forms

Vocabulary

食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) - to eat

行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) - to go

朝ご飯 【あさ・ご・はん】 - breakfast

日本 【に・ほん】 - Japan

お酒 【お・さけ】 - alcohol

飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) - to drink

こと - event, matter

多い 【おお・い】 (i-adj) - numerous

あいつ - that guy (derogatory)

～時間 【～じ・かん】 - counter for span of hour(s)

待つ 【ま・つ】 (u-verb) - to wait

親 【おや】 - parent

宿題 【しゅく・だい】 - homework

する (exception) - to do

The causative-passive form is simply the combination of causative and passive conjugations to mean that the action of making someone do something was done to that person. This would effectively translate into, "[someone] is made to do [something]". The important thing to remember is the order of conjugation. The verb is first conjugated to the causative and then passive, never the other way around.

Causative-Passive Conjugation Form
The causative-passive verb is formed by first conjugating to the causative form and then by conjugating the result to the passive form.
Examples

食べる → 食べさせる → 食べさせられる

行く → 行かせる → 行かせられる

Examples

朝ご飯は食べたくなかったのに、食べさせられた。
Despite not wanting to eat breakfast, I was made to eat it.

日本では、お酒を飲ませられることが多い。
In Japan, the event of being made to drink is numerous.

あいつに二時間も待たせられた。
I was made to wait 2 hours by that guy.

親に毎日宿題をさせられる。
I am made to do homework everyday by my parent(s).

A Shorter Alternative

Vocabulary

行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) - to go

立つ 【た・つ】 (u-verb) - to stand

食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) - to eat

話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) - to speak

学生 【がく・せい】 - student

廊下 【ろう・か】 - hall, corridor

日本 【に・ほん】 - Japan

お酒 【お・さけ】 - alcohol

飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) - to drink

こと - event, matter

多い 【おお・い】 (i-adj) - numerous

あいつ - that guy (derogatory)

～時間 【～じ・かん】 - counter for span of hour(s)

待つ 【ま・つ】 (u-verb) - to wait

Going along with the shorter causative alternative, you can also use the same conjugation for the causative-passive form. I won't cover it in too much detail because the usefulness of this form is rather limited just like the shorter causative form itself. The idea is to simply used the shortened causative form instead of using the regular causative conjugation. The rest is the same as before.

Shortened causative-passive form examples
First conjugate to the shortened causative form. Then conjugate to the passive form.
Examples

行く → 行か → 行かす → 行かされる

立つ → 立た → 立たす → 立たされる

This form cannot be used in cases where the shorter causative form ends in 「さす」, in other words, you can't have a 「さされる」 ending.

Verbs that cannot be used in this form
Examples of verbs you can't use in this form.

食べる → 食べさす → 食べさされる

話す → 話さす → 話さされる

Examples

学生が廊下に立たされた。
The student was made to stand in the hall.

日本では、お酒を飲まされることが多い。
In Japan, the event of being made to drink is numerous.